What A Night That Was
by cheri1
Summary: Eleven/River. You took me to see the singing towers of Darillium. The towers sang and you cried. FINISHED.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

(Doctor)

This is it, the moment has finally come.

I can sense the moment approaching in my mind, the moment I've been dreading since I first learned of it in my tenth life. The moment when I must send my beloved River to meet my tenth self and meet her death.

I remember the words of my previous self while I dress for the occasion. River told me in The Library that I showed up on her doorstep with a haircut and a new suit. I trimmed my hair and I'm wearing a tuxedo, a bit fancy but considering this is the last time we'll ever be together…

I fight the wave of emotion that threatens to wash over me. In the past three hundred years River and I have shared many things together, fought many foes, had many adventures. And even though we've never been officially married, I consider River my wife in all but name. Which is why this is so hard for me.

I finish dressing and examine myself in the mirror. I feel myself falter for a moment. I don't want to do this but I know that I must in order to preserve the time line. Cursing under my breath, I turn away from the mirror. Sometimes I hate being a Time Lord. My feet trudge towards the console room while I will myself to get this over with.

(River)

"Okay, Miles, let me know when you're ready to leave then."

I hang up the phone after talking to one of my team members. Miles Johnson, one of my most trusted associates on our digs. We're planning to travel to Belrus Nine for a dig. We're hoping to find some rare dinosaur fossils. The museum there is paying plenty of credits for an intact Darunosaur skeleton and well, I always love a challenge. I go to the kitchen to put a kettle on for a nice cuppa. I think a nice cuppa and a night of telly sounds just right. I'm shagged out from several days of working on another dig. Blimey, when I read for archaeology, I only intended to find the Doctor, not break my back finding fossils. Ah well, girl's gotta have a career, right?

I'm just about to put the kettle on when there's a knock at my door. I turn back towards the door, open it and my heart leaps in my chest when I see my sweetie standing there on my doorstep. For some reason, he's wearing a tuxedo, his hair's a bit shorter and he's holding a bouquet of roses in his hand. He looks absolutely stunning and he flashes that ultra cute boyish grin of his.

"Are you busy, Miss Song?"

"Well, I was going to have a cup of tea and watch the telly, does that qualify as busy?" I say sweetly.

"No, that qualifies as rubbish. Come with me, I have a much better evening in mind for us."

"Ooo, sounds intriguing, let me put on something more appropriate then."

I give my loverboy a kiss on the lips before I hurry to my bedroom.

(Doctor)

God, I feel like such an arse. I can't believe I'm doing this, deceiving the woman I love and sending her to her death, all while I pretend to be on a date with her. She trusts me completely and I'm stabbing her in the back. Why can't the universe be on my side for once? I tried to love Rose and lost her and now I'm about to lose River. The universe must certainly hate me. I look around her house while I wait for River to finish getting dressed. She kept this little house even though she still travels with me. She prefers to be a part time companion and earn some money doing her archaeology thing, which is great since I don't know if I could handle her in the TARDIS full time. I love her but the woman is definitely the take charge kind of gal and we've had a few heated arguments before. Still, I wouldn't have made it through the past couple of centuries without her. She's been my lover, my friend and my confidant…and now she's on her way to die.

I shake that thought out of my head. I can't dwell on that. I just need to give my River one last romantic dinner before she goes to The Library.

(River)

I finish putting on a jet black evening dress and check myself out in the full length mirror in my room. My God, I look stunning. I'm not being egotistical, it's just the truth. This body is dead sexy, much better than my last one. I turn left and right, checking myself, before I grab my black purse and head back to my sweetie.

I smile when I enter the room. The dress had just the right effect on him. He turns and freezes, staring at me with delight as I cross the room towards him. I knew he'd like it. He likes me in black, says it flatters my figure. But when I walk up to him, I can't help but notice there's an aura of sadness about him for some reason. Maybe something happened today while he was off exploring and he thought up the idea of dinner with me to cheer himself up? Well, if cheering up is what he needs, I'm more than up to the challenge.

He takes my hand and kisses it tenderly. The man is a real charmer, that's for sure. We walk out the door and he leads me to his TARDIS. All the while I keep sensing something is wrong. I can tell when the Doctor is faking an emotion and while he talks to me and tells me what his plans are, I get the feeling that he's faking his cheerfulness. This is nothing new but he very rarely fakes emotions around me which is why I'm wondering what the hell is going on.

"Doctor, are you alright?" I finally ask, stopping him just outside the TARDIS.

"Yes, of course, why do you ask?"

"Because you seem a little too cheerful."

I see a tiny flicker of pain flash though his eyes for a moment before he answers me.

"No, nothing's wrong, just a rough day in the TARDIS so I thought I'd come and relax with you," he says with a shrug.

I'm not entirely convinced but I know the Doctor won't tell me what's wrong with him unless he wants to and rather than wasting my time playing the inquisition, I decide to just relax and enjoy being with him. The Doctor clicks his fingers, the TARDIS doors open and he leads me inside.

"So…" I say. "Where are we headed?"

"A very special place I know of," the Doctor replies.

"Oh, I see, so you're going to play hard to get?" I tease.

"Spoilers," he said, touching the tip of my nose.

I grin at that and sit down on his seat, watching while he works his magic on the console.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

(River…)

"So…where are we going?" I ask when he finishes with the console.

"Someplace special," he says to me. "Someplace I've been saving for an occasion just like this."

Now I'm intrigued. We've done many things together, gone to many places and met many people, both human and alien but most of the time, we go to places on a whim. The fact that he's been planning to take me to this special place makes me wonder what he's going to do. With the Doctor, it's never just a simple excursion.

The TARDIS lands and powers down and the Doctor walks over to me, taking my hand in his and giving it a gentle kiss on the back of it.

"Ooo, Mister Smooth," I tease.

"As always," he said with a twinkle in his eyes. "Now, Miss Song, stand up and come with me."

"Lead the way, sweetie."

He opens the front door and stepped out onto a grassy planet. Overhead are tons of stars and a full moon that has just a hint of blue to it. I am struck dumb for a moment when I hear soft singing drifting through the air. The Doctor comes out behind me and points to two ivory towers in the distance.

"The singing is coming from there. The singing towers of Derillium," he says to me.

"It's gorgeous," I say.

"Thought you might like it," he says with that charming boyish smile of his.

He kisses my hand again and leads me away from the TARDIS. We walk through some high grass and suddenly I see a small red and white checkered blanket laid out in a clearing. On top of it is a wicker basket.

"I thought perhaps a picnic while listening to the singing towers?" he says as he extends his hand towards the blanket.

"Sounds wonderful," I say.

"After you."

I walk over to the blanket and sit down on it. I lean my head back and stare up at the stars above us. There isn't any light except for the moon and the stars are numerous and brilliant. It's the one reason why I love doing digs out in the open. At night you can be away from civilization and enjoy a sky like this. And with my love at my side, the sky is extra beautiful. I turn my attention back to him while he pulls a bottle of wine and two wine glasses out of the basket.

"So," he says while opening the bottle, "what's going on lately? What has the great River Song unearthed for some museum?"

"Well, I'm going on a dig in the morning," I say between sips of my wine.

"Ah, really, where?"

"Corigandgia, an ice planet. My sponsors want me to try to find this rare furry dinosaur in the ice. I'll probably be away for a few months."

"Is it set in stone?"

"Um…I s'pose not, I do have the option of cancelling it. Why?"

"Cancel it."

I give him a surprised look. He's always respected my right to have a career and never told me where to go or what to do. I know part of that is because he thinks archaeologists are rubbish but it's also because he respects my right to have a life separate from the one I share with him. So to hear him tell me to cancel a planned dig is extremely shocking.

"May I ask why?" I say to him.

"I have a better place for you to go, more exciting."

"Oh? Where?"

"The Library."

I snort at that.

"Sorry, sweetie, I spend enough time in the library doing my research without scheduling trips to it."

"Ah, but this is different. I'm talking about the biggest library in the universe."

"Oh…yes, I've heard about that. Why would that be more exciting than excavating ice dinosaurs?"

"Because there's something sinister in The Library, something that might require an archaeologist and her team."

"What sinister thing?"

"I don't know I've heard from my sources that someone needs a team to go in and check it out."

I get the sense that he knows exactly what the sinister thing is but he's not telling me what it is. Which isn't like him. Usually if he knows something, he rabbit on until your ears bleed. There's still something odd about all this. The Doctor normally doesn't dress up to go on a strange planet, why the dinner jacket for a simple picnic? Don't get me wrong, I trust him completely but the man does have his secrets, which is extremely frustrating at times.

"So…you want me to cancel a dig that's been planned for months to go to a library to look for a sinister something?" I say to him.

"River, the thing may be threatening people's lives. There's been disappearances there. I think you should go under the pretense of conducting an investigation."

"But missing people are up your street. You're the one that goes in a rescues people," I point out.

"I've got to go handle a peace treaty between the Darsholians and the Mung," he says. "They want me to act as go between and help their war come to a peaceful conclusion. I was asked personally by the Grand Minister of Mung to do this. If you promise to go first and check out The Library, you can contact me on my psychic paper and I'll join you after being the mediator, sound good?"

"Well…it does sound a bit more interesting than excavating furry dinosaurs in arse freezing cold. But you really want me to take the lead on this? Usually with something like this you wanna be right up front, directing everything and everyone."

"Nah, I have confidence in you, you've proven to me that you can more than handle yourself. This mediator thing is something I can't get out of, something about chopping off my head and hands if I don't show up but trust me; I will be breezing through it as fast as I can."

"Yes, I'm sure you will," I say with a laugh.

I notice his eyes are misting up and I scoot closer to him and take his hand.

"Love, what's going on? Really?" I ask him.

To my astonishment, the Doctor suddenly begins to weep softly.

(Doctor…)

Damn it, I wasn't trying to cry.

I didn't think I would since River already told me I would. Which is why I wasn't trying to but it's just that…I'm losing someone else that is dear to me and I'm sick of it. River doesn't deserve to spend the rest of her days living inside a computer mainframe and the worst part is, my predecessor won't know her or know what's going on so he can't warn her. She'll be walking to her doom without any warnings from me. The thought of that makes me ill and even though I packed some sandwiches I'm suddenly not hungry. In fact, I have half a mind just to drink the entire bottle of wine and get so drunk I don't know what's going on. This woman has trusted me implicitly, just like all of them have, and I'm betraying that trust and her to keep the time lines from collapsing. Once again, I wish I'd never been born a Time Lord. Maybe it would have been better if I'd remained a human and had Martha chuck that fob watch into a supernova. Living life as an ordinary human sounds so good right now.

And now she's asking me what's wrong. Great. I have to tell her something since I normally don't burst into tears at inopportune times. But I have a feeling anything I say will sound phony, both to her and to me but here goes…

"I'm sorry," I say with a smile. "I love the music here. It sounds so beautiful it brings a tear to my eyes."

Okay, will that fly? She seems like she believes it but one never knows with River Song. Sheeeeeee…seems to accept it. I suppose if she doesn't accept it, she'd be telling me it's a load of shite and asking me what the real reason is….or perhaps she figures I won't tell her anyway, which is true. But to my relief, she doesn't press the issue. Instead, she cuddles next to me and puts her arms around me. I fight to keep calm and not break down even further as I feel my lover's lips on my cheeks. God, I will miss her so much. I feel like such a monster sending this trusting woman to her death. I'm so glad Amy and Rory aren't traveling with me anymore. I can just imagine trying to explain what I did to their child, after which Rory would deck me and send me sailing across the room. I still remember the fist in my face when I told him his girlfriend wasn't as important as the whole universe. I'm in no hurry to feel that fist again.

I sit with River listening to the songs of the towers, trying not to bolt back into the TARDIS even though this is beyond uncomfortable for me. I feel so conflicted. I want to run away from all this but at the same time I want to keep River here for as long as I can since this is our last moment together.

"Doctor?"

"Yes?" I say, looking at her.

"You will come when I call, won't you?"

My hearts lurch when I see the uncertainty in her face. I suspect she knows that she'll soon be in mortal danger and she's trying to reassure herself by asking if I will come for her. I keep a passive face and nod at that and my hearts lurch again when she smiles and relaxes against me. I'm such a bastard. Sometimes I wonder why I keep on living since I seem to do nothing except ruin other people's lives.

We sit for about an hour, eating and chatting before I decide I've had enough. River helps me pack up everything and take it into the TARDIS. After everything is inside my ship, we step outside for one more look at the stars. We stand hand in hand and stare up at the stars. Then River reaches up to my face, turns it towards her and kisses me passionately on the lips. A wave of emotion comes over me and I try to keep calm while I kiss back. Oh River, I hope when you're inside the data core, you'll forgive me for doing this to you. I love you but I can't muck with the time lines. I already tried that once and I won't do it again. I can't be selfish and endanger the whole universe; I have to send you to your death.

We finish kissing and I smile tenderly at the woman I love while we walk back into the TARDIS. River goes in first but I pause at the door and listen for a moment to the singing towers, imprinting this place and the night River and I were here on my memory and then with a weary sigh I go inside and close the door.

THE END.


End file.
